Sun Feb 01 2004 09:26:
I saw this primitive Earth tool today. It lets you check off which countries or US states you've visited and make a map out of it (my state and world maps). More later about the similar, subtler tools I've been wanting to craft for a while. I'd like to point out things brought into stark relief by the, well, stark relief of the US map. First, it makes it look like I started out in Maryland. and scampered west as fast as I could to enjoy all the big states, which is not the truth. Second, what counts as "visiting"? Do I count the ten minutes I spent in Oklahoma? ("Hey, we're near the border, do you kids want to go to Oklahoma?") If so, why don't I count the far longer stints in the Minneapolis-St. Paul and Savannah airports? It's a calculus, as Brian might say.

PS: Tool is also useful if you want to get a map with one state or country highlighted. Why would you want to do that? Because of Wyoming!